Cascade Canyon 2026: Wildlife

Cascade Canyon is as renowned for its wildlife as its scenery.  So I brought my second camera body with my 80-400 zoom lens and a heart full of hope on my hike.

Early reward -- adorable little American Pika on the climb to Inspiration Point.

Even more adorable when grooming itself.

Just past Inspiration Point, word came from up the trail of a young American Black Bear.  It soon showed itself, placidly snacking on vegetation and somehow looking guilty about it.

I kept my head on a swivel looking for Mom, but she never showed herself.  The bears in Cascade Canyon are as habituated to humans as I'd been told, as this young one never stopped munching on anything edible it could find before eventually moving off trail into the brush.

I saw one Yellow-bellied Marmot on a rock, equally unperturbed by my creeping closer for a better shot.  I saw a weasel, too, but as always it was too fast for me to get a shot.

Moose, somewhat surprisingly and definitely frustratingly, continued to elude me.  I hadn't seen any at Brainard Lake, or at Yellowstone.  Other hikers reported seeing a mother and calf along the trail as I neared my return to Inspiration Point, but I didn't see them.

Until I did. :)

Equally as unperturbed as the young bear from the morning, the moose calf took care of an itch while I and a couple of other hikers happily clicked away (from a safe distance).

The calf knew we were there, but neither it nor Mom much cared.

This pose of the two of them, though?  Straight out of Olan Mills.

I chose to savor my first moose encounter of the season, and moved along the trail in parallel with the pair until the calf chose to emerge into the sunlight.

Grazing ensued, which has admittedly been my default experience with most moose.

Once I'd seen my first moose, it was like the floodgates had opened.  While waiting in line for the return shuttle back across Jenny Lake, another mother moose strolled by with a younger calf.  Lots of intervening vegetation made getting a clear shot challenging, but eventually the youngster did show enough of itself for a photo.

A tremendous return trip to Cascade Canyon, with an absolutely awesome abundance of wildlife!